It’s such a festive colour. Sparkly red jelly polishes are perfect for a Christmas manicure. On the LENA website at the moment, it is reduced too, so it’s just £6.95.

LENA nail polish is promoted as being breathable and water permeable. This is important to strict Muslims who perform wudhu before praying and who believe that non-permeable nail polish would mean that the hands cannot be fully and properly cleansed.

So water permeable nail polish is wudhu-friendly and allows Muslims to wear polish but to still adhere to Islam.

LENA Arab Girl

I wasn’t so keen on the brush the first time I used it as it’s wide and straight-edged. But it was less of a struggle this time around. I think perhaps I was more used to it. It still took a little more effort than usual to get a nice curve at the cuticle end using the wide and straight brush edge, but obviously a little practice had helped.

LENA Arab Girl

This polish is my 1,000th. I never thought I would ever own so many nail polishes. At about 600 or 700, I remember thinking that it was time I slowed down buying them. I have to say that it now takes something very special for me to buy a new polish. Whereas I used to buy 10-20 a month, I now can go many months without even buying a single one. I never thought that would happen either!

For this manicure I’ve used:

Colour: two coats of LENA Arab Girl (LE05)

Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

All manicure images are copyright to Kerruticles unless otherwise mentioned.
LENA Arab Girl (LE05) was sent to me for review. All views expressed in this post are my own, honest and unbiased opinions.

These black, white and orange tartan nails are for the 40 Great Nail Art Ideas “books” prompt.

I don’t read anywhere near as much as I would like to. It’s all my son’s fault. Before he was born, I used to read about one book a week. Admittedly, I commuted into central London every day, so there was plenty of time on the train. But I also used to read in bed at night before going to sleep, so really used to be quite a voracious reader.

Then, nearly thirteen years ago, my son was born and suddenly I had no time to myself. I also became self-employed so no longer had a commute. And my son was nicknamed POD for a long time, meaning Prince of Darkness, as he was awake all night (and day too a lot of the time!) so you can probably tell that I didn’t get much night-time reading done either.

Black, white and orange tartan nails

So, in the past thirteen years, I have read precisely eight books. Eight. That’s not even one a year. I’ve read: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho; Saturday, On Chesil Beach and Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan; Suggs’ autobiography That Close; and A Long Way Down, Slam and Funny Girl by Nick Hornby.

I read the last book in that list – Funny Girl – just a few weeks ago while I was on holiday. This nail art takes its inspiration from the paperback cover, which shows a black and white photo of a young woman wearing a tartan dress, with the book title written in orange. So these black, white and orange tartan nails are the result.

Black, white and orange tartan nails

On a white base, I stamped the tartan image in black, using Jordana Black and an image from MoYou Nails 401.

I added in the orange afterwards using a W7 jelly polish, Orange Crush. I painted it on just using the brush and a striping brush for the thin lines.

I’ve had a bit of a nightmare with these nails. I should have top-coated the stamping before adding the orange, because it has smeared it quite badly. They look great at arm’s length; just not so much close up in a photo. Then I’ve managed to capture a bit of my light tent in the top left corner of one of the shots. It’s out of focus, so just looks like a bit of a blur, but all the same, I’m not happy. And finally, I had to adjust the colour balance on the images quite a bit, as the orange was looking red. So that’s made my fingers look yellow. It seems to have been “one of those days”.

For this manicure I’ve used:

Base colour: one coat of Barry M Cotton

Orange: W7 Orange Crush

Stamping polish: Jordana Black

Stamping plate: MoYou Nails 401

Top coat: Moyra Stamping Polish Top Coat

All manicure images are copyright to Kerruticles unless otherwise mentioned.

We’re marbling this week for Twinsie Tuesday – whether that’s a water marble, dry marble or needle drag – and I have created some rainbow water marble nails.

Now, water marbling doesn’t always work out for me. It’s almost certainly a case of getting the right polishes for it. And for this manicure, it seems I did … and I am delighted with the result.

A couple of weeks ago, I was away near Bristol and visited Clarks Village, an outlet shop. Now the credit card got a bit of a hammering – I needed a new handbag, and my sunglasses are nine years old (but it was my birthday)! While there, I came across a shop I’ve never heard of before, called The Beauty Outlet. It had a lot of polish brands: Rimmel, Revlon, W7, OPI, etc. I was drawn to some jelly polishes from W7. They were only £2 each and as I don’t have any really sheer jellies, I thought I would give them a try. I hoped they might rival the OPI Color Paints, which I have never purchased.

Rainbow water marble using W7 Jelly Bean polishes

Well, I am delighted with them. For £2 a bottle, they are awesome. Knowing that the OPI polishes are designed to be painted over a silver base, I thought I would try water marbling over a silver base. Coincidentally, I chose an OPI for that silver – I used OPI This Gown Needs A Crown. It’s possibly my favourite silver polish – I’ve decided that I’m going to need a backup of it.

Rainbow water marble using W7 Jelly Bean polishes

I am delighted to say that these W7 “Jelly Bean” polishes water marbled brilliantly. Unfortunately, my camera-shy right hand looks better than this one, as the marbling has more depth of colour and is more uniform in pattern. However, both my son and my husband say they prefer this hand as the difference in the patterns is more interesting. Each to their own, I suppose.

Please take a look at all the other marbled manicures from the Twinsies this week:

This is Chanel Sunrise Trip with studs for Twinsie Tuesday, the prompt for which is studs or embellishments this week.

Sunrise Trip is a gorgeous colour. It is a jelly polish in a deep purple, almost indigo colour. It is the first “Nail Gloss” that Chanel has launched, and is distinct from their “Nail Colour” range. The nail gloss colour is a gel-like formula, presumably akin to OPI Infinite Shine or Sally Hansen Miracle Gel. I can’t vouch for the wear though as I have only just put it on.

Chanel Sunrise Trip with studs

While the colour is stunning, I didn’t much like the formula as it pooled in my cuticles. It did level out nicely though, and two coats were just enough to still be able to see a jelly effect but not too much visible nail line.

The worst thing about this polish though is that the brush is just dreadful. It is more useless than one you’d find on a cheap market stall polish. I don’t know what they have done, but I am pretty sure that Chanel has changed its brush supplier. The last few Chanel polishes that I have bought – Vibrato, Fortissimo, Rouge Noir (new), Top Coat Lamé Rouge Noir and now Sunrise Trip – all have ropey brushes.

I used to love the slim Chanel brushes, but these new ones are thicker, with more bristles, and the individual bristles don’t lay very straight, making the brush flare out at the bottom. Not only is this completely inconsistent with a top notch brand such as Chanel, it makes it very difficult to paint your nails nicely!

I am very disappointed that Chanel still hasn’t sorted its brushes out, but I have (begrudgingly) been willing to overlook it recently because the colours are so nice. However, I will stop buying Chanel polishes if they can’t provide a good quality brush.

Please take a look at all the other studs and embellishments manicures from the Twinsies this week:

All manicure images are copyright to Kerruticles unless otherwise mentioned.
The studs shown in this post were sent to me for review. All views expressed in this post are my own, honest and unbiased opinions.

Bundle Monster has a new gel polish collection out, called Ain’t No Basic B!tch.

They are “speed gels”, which is Bundle Monster’s term for one-step gel polish. They don’t need a base or top coat, just two coats of the gel polish itself, and you don’t need to wipe off the sticky layer either (because there isn’t one!)

These need 30-60 seconds in an LED lamp and darker colours may require a longer cure. I cured all these for 60 seconds per coat and didn’t have any problems.

Pink Wednesdays

Pink Wednesdays is a pale, bubblegum pink with a hint of blue shimmer. This was the first one from the collection that I tried and I followed the instructions exactly, applying just two coats. However, I think it could have done with three for better opacity.

Bundle Monster Pink WednesdaysBundle Monster Pink Wednesdays

So Fetch!

So Fetch! is a blue jelly base with tiny gold flakies. It’s very sheer and needed four coats. I think it’s too sheer for use on its own and would be better layered over another polish. On my nail, the gold made the polish look more green than blue, and green isn’t a favourite of mine, so I’ll definitely wear this over a blue in future, because in the bottle and on the brush, it’s definitely a very lovely blue colour.

Bundle Monster So Fetch!Bundle Monster So Fetch!

Can’t Sit Here

Can’t Sit Here is a bright pink with a blue shimmer. It’s gorgeous and is my joint favourite of the collection. I could have got away with two coats, but I did a third to make sure the coverage was perfect.

Bundle Monster Can’t Sit HereBundle Monster Can’t Sit Here

Cheeky

Cheeky is a jelly lime green with gold flakies. It’s the brother to So Fetch! Again, it’s very sheer and I’m not keen on green, but I found myself loving this. It’s the kind of colour that looks great on darker skin tones, or when we pale and pasties get a tan. I think it would make a wonderful polish for holiday. This is four coats.

Bundle Monster CheekyBundle Monster Cheeky

Drama!

Drama! has a purple jelly base with small silver, pink and purple hexagonal glitters, purple micro glitter and purple bar glitter. This is three coats. It’s a very pretty polish. I don’t usually like bar glitter, but in this, it’s very subtle.

Bundle Monster Drama!Bundle Monster Drama!

You’re So Tragic!

You’re So Tragic! is black with silver, tiny green and pink glitters / flakies. It’s very opaque and two coats were enough for a perfect finish. It’s similar to Chanel Cosmic, Sally Hansen Midnight in NY or Zoya Storm. This is my other joint favourite.

Bundle Monster You’re So Tragic!Bundle Monster You’re So Tragic!

The Bundle Monster Ain’t No Basic B!tch collection costs $29.99 for all six polishes, or you can buy them for $5.99 each. I’ve always been worried about buying polish from overseas, but Bundle Monster polishes always reach me without any unwarranted attention from Royal Mail.

These are great one-step gel polishes. There really is no need for top coat and there’s no inhibition layer, so no need to wipe after curing. I just rubbed in some cuticle oil and they were left beautifully shiny.

Because there’s no base or top coat required, these are really quick to put on. And they can also be quick to remove if you use them in conjunction with Bundle Monster’s new peelable base coat for gel polish, Gel-Off. But more about that in an upcoming post!

For these manicures I’ve used:

Pink Wednesdays: two coats

So Fetch!: four coats

Can’t Sit Here: three coats

Cheeky: four coats

Drama!: three coats

You’re So Tragic!: two coats

All manicure images are copyright to Kerruticles unless otherwise mentioned.
The Bundle Monster Ain’t No Basic B!tch collection was sent to me for review. All views expressed in this post are my own, honest and unbiased opinions.

About me

I'm Claire Kerr and I'm a UK nails blogger. I've only been addicted to nail polish since 2012. Some kind of mid-life crisis turned me from a tomboy into a girly girl!

I had been posting pics of my manicures to Facebook, really as a way of documenting them for myself, but I was filling up my timeline with the photos and most of my friends weren't interested. So I started this blog instead!